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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Al-mizan an Exegesis of the Qur'an (volume Four) Volume 4: Surah Baqarah, Verses 253-254 These apostles, We have made some of them to excel others; among them are some to whom Allah spoke, and some of them He exalted by degree (of rank); and We gave clear (evidence) to Isa, son of Maryam, and strengthened him with the holy spirit.

And if Allah had pleased, those after them would not have fought one with another after clear arguments had come to them; but they differed; so there were some of them who believed and others who denied; and if Allah had so pleased they would not have fought one with another, but Allah does what He intends (253). 0 You who believe!

Spend out of what We have given you, before the day comes in which there is no bargaining, neither any friendship nor intercession; and the unbelievers - they are unjust (254). **GENERAL COMMENT ** These two verses do not differ much in context from the preceding verses which ordained fighting and spending in the way of Allah.

Then came the story of Talut, in this context, so that the believers might learn important lessons from it, and that story ended on the words, "and most surely you are one of the apostles" which are immediately followed by the opening sen­tence of this verse, "These apostles, We have made some of them to excel the others." Thereafter, it describes why those who came after those apostles fought one with another.

(In the story of Talut also, there was a restrictive phrase, "after Musa" to describe "the chiefs of the children of Israel".) Then it reverts to the exhortation of spending in the way of Allah before the final day comes. All these similarities in context strongly support the view that these two verses are connected with the previous ones, and that all of them were sent down together.

The verse purports to remove a common misunderstanding, which is as follows:­ The apostleship, especially when it was accompanied by clear evidence, that is, arguments and miracles to prove its truth, should have ended the scourge of fighting.

It could have happened in one of the two ways: (1) When Allah sent the apostles and gave them clear signs for the specific purpose of guiding people to their bliss in both worlds, it would have been proper if He had also prevented them from fighting among themselves and united them all in the truth. So, why is there so much fighting going on among the followers of those apostles?